Tag Archives: Discrimination

Bryan Fischer, a Christian radio host in the US has gained notoriety world-wide and stolen some of the media attention around the US Supreme Court historic ruling on Defence Of Marriage Act last week, by saying the New Yorker magazine’s cover “promoted child abuse”, simply by featuring Sesame Street characters cuddling at the news.

This popular and long running New Yorker magazine features Bert and Ernie snuggling up to each other on a sofa, while an image of the US Supreme Court Justices appears on their television screen. It’s simple, it’s cute, it doesn’t have them kissing or in any way acting inappropriately yet that didn’t stop the anti-gay, anti-equality Bryan Fischer spouting out a great deal of hate.

The Christian radio host launched his attack during his Focal Point programme saying the characters were engaged in a “homosexual clinch”. Adding “I don’t know which is which” continuing: “This is grossly irresponsible for The New Yorker to promote this, they really are promoting child endangerment and they are promoting child abuse.”

Fischer also quoted figures from the heavily criticised Regnerus Study, published in July 2012, which was titled “How Different Are The Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-sex Relationships? Findings from the New Family Structures Study”. Its findings were refuted by many and deemed “flawed and misleading” with a lack of fact.

Many have believed that the two Sesame Street characters were a gay couple over the years, some 10,000 people even signed an online petition during 2011, urging the creators to allow the ‘couple’ to get married.

The Sesame Street workshop issued a statement at the time which stated: “Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though the Sesame Street Muppets … possess many human traits and characteristics, they have no sexual orientation.” Of course it had nothing to do with their Christian sponsors threatening to pull out if Bert and Ernie did end up getting hitched to each other.

Just recently the US Supreme Court struck down the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), which federally defined marriage as between one man and one woman. A second case, centred around California’s Proposition 8, the Supreme Court ruled that such a ruling was not in its jurisdiction, nor was it in the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court, which previously ruled, therefore deferring the decision to a previous ruling by a district court which decided the ban was unconstitutional.

Earlier this week thousands of people marched in Manhattan, New York to denounce a stark increase in violence against the gay community in the city and specifically the brutal aggressive shooting on of Mark Carson last weekend.

Openly gay Mark Carson was shot in the face after being followed and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse and slurs in through New York’s Greenwich Village. Witnesses claim the man charged with Carson’s murder, Elliot Morales, asked him “Do you want to die here?” and “What are you, gay wrestlers?” before shooting him in the face.

New York City Police Department chief Ray Kelly said, “It is clear that the victim here was killed only because, and just because, he was thought to be gay,”

Many are shocked by the crime, believing New York, which legalised same-sex marriage in 2011 was a safe place for gay people to live. Indeed the area of Greenwich Village is a well gay friendliness and acceptance. “There aren’t supposed to be anti-gay hate crimes taking place almost in the shadow of the Stonewall Inn,” said political analyst Richard Socarides.

On Monday, thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the shooting. Some of those present carried placards dedicated to “gay angel Mark Carson” whilst some others chanted slogans like “Hate No, Gun Control Yes” and “Homophobia’s got to go”.

The New York Police Department have said anti-gay bias crimes in the area have risen sharply compared to the equivalent period last year, from 14 incidents to 24. However the figures may not tell the whole truth for many believe that only a few anti-gay crimes are actually reported to the police for a number of reasons, not least the fear of not being treated fairly.

Morales has yet make a plea and is currently being held in custody without bail.

A gay male couple were walking through a South London park during the early hours of Sunday 19th May when they were viciously assaulted by a gang of men, one of the attackers saying “stay down faggot.”

Christopher Bryant, 42, along with his partner Damon Truluck, 38, were walking home across Betts Park in Penge, in the London Borough of Bromley, when six men approached them. “We saw them too late to get away. We ran, and I was getting away, but they caught Damon, my partner, and so I doubled back. I tried to get them off him, and that’s when they thumped me to the ground.“ Mr Bryant told local media.

“When I looked up to see if he was ok one of them kicked me in the face, and said ‘stay down faggot’. Every time I looked up to see what was happening to Damon they either thumped or kicked me, and said ‘don’t try anything’. They went through my pockets and took my wallet and phone. But they kept hitting. Before they ran off they pushed us together and told us to stay still for 5 minutes or they’d kill us.”

The vicious assault took place not long after midnight, just hours after Mr Bryant had celebrated his 42nd birthday. The attack has left both men bruised and battered with Truluck also having injuries to his back and hip, finding it difficult to walk.

In a cruel ironic twist, before this anti-gay attack both men were raising awareness of Friday’s International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia through online magazine http://www.polarimagazine.com.

London’s Metropolitan police are investigating the incident but so far no arrests have been made.

The committee of Ugandan MPs that endorsed the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill have dropped the death penalty provision, claims MP Medard Segona. He told media outlets there had been “substantial amendments” to the horrific bill that increases penalties for being gay in the African nation, however he said he was not allowed to reveal further details. Segona, is on the Legal and Parliamentary committee of Uganda’s parliament said “I can confirm it has been dropped.” Adding “Some of us who are human rights activists would discourage the death penalty.”

The Ugandan parliament will shortly debate the bill and Segona believes this will happen before Christmas, although refused to be more precise. In recent statement the speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Rebecca Kadaga promised the bill would be passed as a “Christmas gift” to all its advocates and supporters.

A Cape Girardeau teenager has pleaded guilty to a ‘hate crime’ charge after beating and robbing a gay neighbour in the Missouri city during July of this year.

Local TV station KFVS 12-TV has reported that prosecutors dropped a burglary charge against 17-year-old Mercedes Ayers in exchange for her pleading guilty of the hate crime charge, which is expected to carry a lesser sentence, at the Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court on Monday.

41-year-old Jeana Terry was inside her house when the vicious 17 year old Ayers began subjecting her to loud vocal anti-gay abuse. Ayers then went to Ms Terry’s porch and with two young children present, proceeded to pull Terry outside and aggressively attacked her while making derogatory comments about her sexuality.

Outside court Ms Terry was grateful of the plea and even offered hope for Ayers, saying she hopes the teenager will be able to turn her life around and finish high school.

It’s not uncommon for American sportsmen to be extra vocal regarding their hatred of gay people and supporting opposition to equal rights for gay people. One of the latest being Baltimore Ravens’ player Matt Birk who took to the media and made a video disclosing his opposition to equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in a new video for the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

“Supporting the basic rights of children and the authentic rights of people with same-sex attraction are not mutually exclusive, and we must resist the forces that are telling us otherwise,” Birk claims in the anti – equality video.

Over the weekend the footballer told a local newspaper that marriage needs “protection” so it can remain as being between one woman and one man.

This comes from a country that holds so much regard for the ancient institution of marriage that you can get married in under 5 minutes to someone you’ve known for less than a day by someone dressed as Elvis.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, claimed in one of his last major public lectures before he steps down toward the end of this year, that the Church of England’s attitude towards gay relationships has often been harmful to people.

Only last month Dr Williams said that while the Church of England was “wrong” not to have advocated for gay equality, the Prime Minister David Cameron was also wrong to embarrass the church over the issue.

During the lecture to the religious theologian think tank ‘Theos’ earlier this week the Archbishop also suggested the church could and should learn some lessons from its passed mistakes.

On Tuesday the Ukrainian Government moved a step closer to an outright ban on homosexuality by agreeing a bill that will effectively silence the whole Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered community in the country.

They approved the first reading of a horrifically homophobic legislation that would make it a crime to speak publicly about homosexuality in a positive way, punishable by a hefty fine or a 5 year jail term.

The shock draft bill received approval from 289 of the 350 lawmakers and will have to pass a secondary parliamentary hearing, currently scheduled for 16th October. If the bill passes and Vikto Yaukovych – the Ukrainian President signs the bill into law, any pro-gay talk will be outlawed under the term of spreading ’homosexual propaganda’. This basically means that no positive mention of gays can be made in any media outlet, gay magazines would also face prosecution along with publications and leaflets that promote safe sexual health between gay people.

Pope says family is threatened by a ‘defection in human nature’ more rants against gays from the master of all homophobes.

The most evil and wicked Pope Benedict XVI has said gay people are not fully developed humans as they do not obey Catholic law. This is just the latest homophobic former nazi supporter who leads the Catholic Church who made them while speaking to bishops about the French President Francois Hollande’s plans to legalize marriage equality.

The religious leader added: ‘Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself.’

The Pope says the Catholic values of marriage and the family must be obeyed, because they ‘permit the full development of the human person’. Expect freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom from guilt and a disgusting attitude of hypocrisy and lies. This man is becoming a real danger, not to gay people, but to all reasonable Catholics around the world, he is making them and their religion a laughing stock and opening them up to ridicule and increased levels of hatred and discrimination.

She said: ‘What the Pope thinks of being gay does not matter. It doesn’t matter to the world. It matters to the people who like the Pope and follow the Pope. It’s not a reflection of all Christians. It is not a reflection of all religious people. It’s a point of view of one person. And to all the gay people here,’ she added. ‘May you live and love each other until the end of time. I hope you will have the human right to breed as an entirely equal, valuable and special member of society. In January, the Pope received criticism for saying gay marriages ‘threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.’

Further proof that religion far from being the holy and the good is the evil and the vengeful.